


Settling the Aftershocks

by greeneggs101



Series: An Ever Changing Sky [8]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Feelings, Fluff and Angst, Hot Chocolate, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 01:16:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13089375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeneggs101/pseuds/greeneggs101
Summary: All three of them had been plagued with nightmares. Unsurprising, considering what they had been through. Ven was afraid to fall asleep some nights, scared that he won’t wake up again, and Aqua couldn’t sleep without a source of light in the room.Terra’s nightmares left him breathless and wide awake. He needed to walk around and reassure himself that he was in control of his own body and not trapped inside it.





	Settling the Aftershocks

**Author's Note:**

> Hello All! 
> 
> I'm afraid I don't have a very good reason for being away for such a long time, other than just being in a bad place emotionally. But gosh darn it, it's my birthday; I'll post if I want to!
> 
> This has been written for a very long time, but I've been debating publishing it, but have been putting it off because I wasn't sure if I was going to write a "final battle" fic of sorts where all the bad guys are defeated and all the characters who are lost become not so lost. But... I just couldn't get in the mood to write it. That wasn't why this series was written anyway, it was focused more on the ties between family and friends. 
> 
> So, for the sake of the story- Namine and Vanitas were somehow rescued from Sora's heart or from under the influence of Xehanort's heart... and insert magic reason here why Vanitas isn't part of Ven's heart anymore. I mean I have a headcannon for that, I may even write it one day, but it's too long for the notes section. 
> 
> And without further rambling, here is the final (?) part of the series. [EDIT: March 2018: This is not the final part, there is one new story published with another 2(?) on the way!]

Terra struggled with the invisible bonds holding him down, his mouth open in a silent scream. 

He hear the cries of his friends as they were struck down, and he could feel his own body handing out the blows. Desperately, Terra tried to regain control of his body, but it felt like he was trying to swim in the ocean with his hands bound. 

He tried again to scream, but nothing came out but some raspy sounds. Breathing felt difficult as well, as his lungs hitched with every gasp of air. 

_“Terra!” Aqua’s voice cut through the general screaming. “Terra! Please, stop!”_

_“Terra is no longer here,” Terra’s mouth moved, though it wasn’t his voice that came out. Then Terra felt his arms deal a heavy blow with an unfamiliar keyblade and Aqua fell silent._

The screaming continued and Terra could only pick up words and phrases here and there, all in the voices of his friends, old and new. 

_“You’re not Riku!” Another younger voice rang out._

‘Sora?’ Terra thought. He tried to yell out again, “Sora! It’s me, Terra! Help!” but again, his own screams were silenced by a deeper voice that wasn’t his own. 

_“Light and Darkness are eternal; Nothing probably goes on forever too...” Riku’s voice stated._

_“But that doesn’t mean that you’re eternal!” Sora’s voice finished, older and more mature than before._

“Wait!” Terra tried to shout, but it felt muffled, like shouting through a wad of cotton. 

Despite the confident words, Terra had to hear their cries of pain as both Sora and Riku were struck down. 

The screaming continued, words becoming unintelligible as Terra felt his body strike down his opponents, his friends.

_“Terra?” a voice called out._

Ven!

Terra felt his body preparing for another strike, and desperately he tried to regain control of it. He felt one arm come free from his bonds, and he reached out. “Ven!”

_“Terra!” Ven’s voice was filled with fear._

“Ven! No!” 

Suddenly, Terra found himself free as he jerked awake, his eyes blinking open to a dim light. He breath came in short bursts and he tried to breath deeper to prevent himself from hyperventilating. 

Slowly he became aware of his surroundings, the bookcase and dresser across from him, and the wayfinder night light Aqua had made sitting on the nightstand next to him. Terra brought his arm down from where it had been reaching out and used it to cover his face, still trying to calm down. 

He tried to move his other arm and froze when he felt an unknown entity pinning it down. His heart felt encased in ice, afraid that he was still in his dream, but a quick glance to his left calmed him again as he saw a bright patch of blonde hair illuminated from the glow of the night light. 

Ven must have crawled into his bed again, Terra mused, glancing over to the unmade and empty bed a few feet away. The blond was wrapped around Terra’s arm like it was a teddy bear, clutching his hand in a loosely tangled grip and burying his face in the brunet’s shoulder. 

Gently, he untangled his hand and arm from Ven’s grip and replaced it with his own pillow. Terra grinned softly at Ven’s sleepy protests that quieted back down into a deep sleep as he clutched his replacement teddy bear. Softly, the brunet got out of bed, slipping on a shirt and a pair of slippers. 

“Terra?” a soft voice came from the third bed in the room and Terra glanced back to see Aqua sleepily squinting at him. “You ok?”

“I’m fine,” Terra assured her. “Just going to slip downstairs for a glass of water. Go back to sleep.”

“Oh... ok.” Aqua was already halfway there, exhaustion laying over her like an extra blanket. 

Quietly, Terra slipped out of the room, blinking at the bright lights in the hallway. He closed the door and leaned against it for a moment, letting his eyes adjust and his heart to slow down to a normal pace. 

All three of them had been plagued with nightmares. Unsurprising, considering what they had been through. Ven was afraid to fall asleep some nights, scared that he won’t wake up again, and Aqua couldn’t sleep without a source of light in the room. 

Terra’s nightmares left him breathless and wide awake. He needed to walk around and reassure himself that he was in control of his own body and not trapped inside it. 

He sighed, feeling his heart calm down a little, and began his trek to the kitchen. As he walked, he felt his heart rate slow and the effects of the nightmare started to fade, though the memories and fears were still there. 

The lights were off in the kitchen, but his eyes adjusted quickly and he pulled a glass down, filling it with water from the tap. 

“So, I guess you couldn’t sleep either?”

Terra’s whole body jerked, and some of the water in his glass splashed out over his hand. Turning, he glared at the white haired young man sitting at the table. Riku gave a small grin in apology and took a sip of his own water. 

Terra sighed as he dried his hand on a nearby towel. “Nightmare?”

Riku nodded but stayed silent, instead leaning his head back against the chair and looking out the nearby window. 

Terra took a seat across from him. 

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, sipping on their water, before Riku took a deep breath. 

“How... how much do you remember? After being....possessed?” his voice was quiet and unusually hesitant, though his eyes stared right at Terra when he asked. 

Terra placed his water glass back on the table with a louder than intended thunk. Riku waited patiently.

“It depends... some days not much, or it feels like I was seeing it through cotton...” Terra tapped his fingers on the table. “Other days I can remember every detail...” Those days were the worst, because when the memories felt the most real, it also felt the most that he had been the one to commit those atrocities.

Riku nodded, accepting that answer. “It wasn’t really you, you know?” Riku took another sip of water. “You were possessed.”

“Yeah... but... my heart practically fell to darkness, and my body succumbed easily... that makes it feel that it was me anyway.” 

“Yeah... I understand that.”

And didn’t he ever. Terra supposed that was what made it easier to talk to Riku about these things, rather than burden Aqua or Ven with that knowledge. Because Riku understood it. 

And yet... the only reason Riku could even understand what Terra felt, was also because of Terra’s actions...

“I--” Terra opened his mouth to try to apologize, but like a dozen times before, Riku cut him off. 

“I’m responsible for my own actions,” Riku stated.

“But if I didn’t open myself up to the darkness,” Terra pottested, “Of if I didn’t pass the keyblade’s burden onto you.”

“Then I would have remained a stubborn ass of a kid for the rest of my life,” Riku spat. “It wasn’t you, or Aqua, or even Xehanort who turned me into a jerk... not really. I was already a jerk who hated being stuck on an island and seeing the same group of people who knew everything about you before you could open your mouth. Hated going to the same shops and the same school for years, or of being stuck with being friends with people you may or may not have liked just because they were absolutely nobody else to talk to. I was angry at the world because the world never changed.” 

Terra blinked at the outburst from the normally reserved Riku. He never seen him get that passionate unless Sora and Kairi were around. 

Riku’s face was red and he took a few drinks of water to calm down. 

“And besides. We can’t go back and change things. And I don’t think I would want to...” Riku trailed off, tapping his fingers against the glass. “If you were never possessed, or if I wasn’t such a jerk, the keyblade may not have passed on to Sora. And I wouldn’t change that for anything.” Riku smiled into his glass. “Sora was always destined to hold the keyblade. I don’t think we would have been able to do what he did.”

Terra hesitated but nodded. “Don’t sell yourself short... but you’re probably right.” 

Riku grinned. “Then you shouldn’t worry too much about something you can’t change. The nightmares don’t ever go away... at least, not that I’ve found...” 

“Nightmares can’t hurt you, you know,” a voice behind them stated and it was only years of training that prevented them both from jumping. 

Terra turned to the doorway just as Axel turned the light on. The bright light blinded him for a moment. When he finally blinked his eyes open and they adjusted, he found the redhead smirking at Riku, who was cursing under his breath as his own eyes adjusted. 

“You’ve obviously never dealt with nightmare dream eaters then,” Riku retorted, glaring at the redhead. “They hurt.”

“Fine,” Axel shrugged and waved his hand. “Sure, ruin my advice.” He frowned at their water glasses and turned to open a cupboard. 

“What do you know about nightmares?” Riku questioned.

“You know, you’re not the only one who’s done terrible things to friends while slightly... not yourself,” Axel pulled down a kettle and several mugs, not looking at Riku or Terra. “So yeah... I get them too...”

Riku looked down, “Sorry... sometimes I forget that Axel and Lea are not the same person.”

Axel shrugged. “Kind of sorta? I mean... we’re more the same person than Roxas and Sora were... Or Roxas and Ven... It’s more like... Axel the nobody was Lea the person but without a conscious... and when Roxas and I spent time together, I became more like Lea.” He grinned at the two, a sad grin that Terra understood too well. “You notice that I do answer to both.”

“Yeah.”

Terra went back to staring at his water glass, resolving to try to go back to bed once it was empty. He quickly drained it and set it down gently. Just as he moved to get up though, a mug full of steaming hot chocolate was placed in front of him. Startled, Terra looked up to find Riku staring at his own hot chocolate. 

“You can’t pity yourselves while drinking hot chocolate. Axel stated, sipping his own mug. “It’s like, a law, or something.” 

Riku huffed, but took a sip anyway. “That sounds like something Sora would say.”

“Eh... probably where I got it from...” 

Terra grinned and took a sip of his own, surprised at the perfect mixture of sweet and bitterness. 

Axel took a seat next to him and placed a companionable arm around the brunet’s shoulders. “You know, you guys don’t have to sit in the dark and brood. You both have your little nightlights to talk too.”

Riku’s cheeks reddened but he smirked at Axel all the same. “And where is your little ‘nightlight’?” 

“Right here...” a tired voice stated behind Terra. 

Terra and Axel both looked at the kitchen entryway where two blondes and a spiky haired brunette were rubbing their eyes. 

One blonde, Roxas, went right over to Axel and punched the taller man in the arm. “It’s too cold for you to be up and wandering round.” 

Axel chuckled and hugged the blonde close, “But I wanted hot chocolate.”

“Then make some for the rest of us, you hot chocolate hog,” Roxas stuck his tongue out and took a seat at the table as well. 

Sora had made his way over to Riku and collapsed in the older boy’s lap, looking like he just fell right back asleep. Riku smiled and wrapped an arm around the brunet to keep him steady. 

“Terra?” Ven’s sleepy voice came from his side and Terra turned to look at the blonde who was still sleepily rubbing his eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, Ven. I’m fine now,” Terra reached up and rubbed Ven’s hair, which earned him a small smile from the blonde. 

“Okay,” Ven took the seat next to Terra and laid his head on the table. Terra smiled and continued to rub the blonde’s hair. 

“So... I guess I should make three more hot chocolates then?” Axel questioned.

“Make that seven...” another voice came from the kitchen door. Terra turned again and saw Aqua, Namine, Kairi and Xion all walking in, looking more aware than the boys that preceded them, but no less tired. 

They all took seats at the table or leaned against the countertop. Aqua giggled at Ven and also ran a hand through his hair which caused the sleepy blonde to grin and sigh. 

“Sora are you even awake?” Kairi questioned, poking the brunet’s cheek. 

“Yea...’m wake... R’ku j’st c’mfy,” Sora mumbled, definitely more asleep than awake. 

Riku laughed softly and pulled the brunet closer, “I’ll wake you up when your hot chocolate is done.”

“B’st boyfr’nd ever,” Sora grinned moving his head to nuzzled into Riku’s neck before apparently drifting off completely. 

Kairi chuckled and headed towards the stove to help Axel with the hot chocolate. 

“Why didn’t we ever have hot chocolate before?” Xion wondered.

“Because Axel is a hot chocolate hog who doesn’t let anyone know that he makes excellent hot chocolate,” Roxas grumbles. 

“I’m pretty sure the fact that we always met up in a town that sold some great ice cream had something to do with it too...” Axel retorted. 

Xion laughed at them both, Namine joining in with a giggle of her own. 

Terra couldn’t help but smile at them all. 

“You guys are all so fucking loud! Can’t a person sleep?!” a sharp voice cut through the laughter. 

“Language,” Aqua chided automatically, but she turned to the newcomer with an open smile. “We’re having hot chocolate, Vanitas, would you like some?”

Terra glanced back at the ebony haired boy, still so much like Sora and Ven in everything but personality. 

Vanitas huffed and glared, “What the heck is hot chocolate?”

Ven immediately shot up and turned around, “You never had hot chocolate?”

“I still don’t know what it is so how would I know?”

“Well, that’s just unacceptable,” Namine stated getting up from her chair. Xion followed her and together they managed to drag Vanitas over to the table and made him sit between Terra and Roxas. 

Vanitas grumbled but sat down without complaint. 

“Table is looking a bit crowded though... how about we all move to the living room?” Axel suggested as he finished up pouring out the hot chocolate into eight new cups. 

They all chimed in agreement, except Vanitas who just moved a little reluctantly when prodded by Roxas. Riku poked Sora awake with the promise of hot chocolate and they all moved to the living room. 

Ignoring the furniture, they all sat comfortably on the floor. 

Terra leaned against the wall, grinning when Ven sat beside him, Aqua taking the other spot next to the blonde. Everyone else sprawled across the rugs, grouping together but never closing anyone out. 

Sora seemed to have woken up now that he was drinking his hot chocolate and he cheered once everyone was seated, raising his mug high in the air. “To friends, and the best hot chocolate ever.” 

Everyone laughed and raised their mugs before taking a sip as well. Even Vanitas, sitting a little outside of their group, had raised his mug a little, Terra had noticed. The black haired young man’s face was inexpressive, and his eyes observant. 

“‘Best hot chocolate’?” Kairi questioned after taking a long sip, “Better not let Leon hear that. He thinks his hot chocolate is the best.”

“Whenever I have hot chocolate, it’s the best hot chocolate,” Sora mumbled around his mug. “Except when I try to make it... I burn the milk.” 

Laughter rang out through the group and Sora ducked his head further into his mug in some embarrassment, though he smiled as well, especially as Riku wrapped an arm around his waist 

Even as the they drained their hot chocolate and sat their mugs on the floor around them, the group continued to talk quietly, mindful of the others sleeping in the tower, but all too comfortable in each others presence to return to their rooms. Eventually, Ven’s exhaustion seemed to catch up with him and the blond fell against Terra, landing mostly in the brunet’s lap. 

Terra felt his cheeks heat up a bit as Ven nuzzled into his thigh but he brushed off Aqua’s silent offer to move Ven, instead running his hand through the blonde’s hair. He felt Ven smile against his leg. 

A loud yawn and sudden thump made Terra look up from from Ven and he saw Sora sprawled out on the floor, eyes drifting shut. 

“Too tired... not moving....” the spiky haired brunette murmured lazily. Riku poked his boyfriend in the ribs.

“Your neck’s gonna hurt in the morning.”

“Then I’ll deal with it in the morning,” Sora muttered back, reaching up and pulling Riku down with him. “Just sleep here.”

Kairi laughed at both of them, before yawning as well. She and Namine curled up on Sora’s other side. 

Axel seemed to like Sora’s idea, and sprawled on his back as well, pulling Roxas halfway on top of him. “Need my little nightlight.” 

“I hate you,” Roxas muttered halfheartedly, but curled on fist in Axel’s shirt and shifted closer. 

“Is that Roxas speak for ‘I love you’?” Sora laughed, eyes still closed. A chuckled went around the group and in retaliation, the blonde reached down and yanked on one of Sora’s spikes, causing the brunet to yelp through his laughter. 

“Shut up, you’re just as sappy.”

“I own my sappiness,” Sora giggled. 

Xion laughed and laid on Axel’s other side, smiling when the redhead wrapped an arm loosely around her. “I think we’re all a little sappy.”

“But we all have a reason to be,” Namine agreed. “Who would have thought that we would all be able to be here now. Together and just having hot chocolate and laughing?”

Terra agreed with that sentiment and looked back down at Ven, who was drifting in and out of sleep, the blonde chuckling tiredly at Roxas and Sora’s bickering and smiling with Namine’s musings. They were all lucky with how things worked out. Terra would take a lifetime of nightmares if he could just have moments like this to balance them out. 

“Well, fuck this shit. If you guys are gonna be all touchy feel-y and crap, I’m out of here,” Vanitas got up and was well on his way to stepping over Ventus and presumably returning to his room when Sora’s hand shot out and grabbed the the dark haired boy’s ankle.

“Oh no you don’t!” Sora laughed. Vanitas let out an undignified squawk as he lost his balance and fell, landing mostly on Aqua and Ventus. Aqua grunted at the sudden weight and Ventus groaned, already half asleep. 

Vanitas growled, but in a rare display of defeat, did not get back up. Terra only barely held back a chuckle as the boy that once sought to kill him and his friends curled up as much as he could to Ven and shyly grabbed Aqua’s sleeve. 

“I’m just too lazy to get back up!” Vanitas declared. “It’s not like I want to be here.” 

Now Terra couldn’t hold back his chuckle, and he heard Sora echoing him. Aqua huffed out a laugh of her own and ran her fingers through Vanitas’s hair. 

The dark haired boy grumbled for a bit, but eventually drifted off to sleep. Terra grinned and ran his fingers again through Ven’s hair. 

Despite acting completely different, the two were alike in a lot of ways. 

Sora drifted off to sleep shortly afterwards, still clutching Vanitas’ foot, his snores joining Axel’s. 

Terra chuckled, catching Riku’s eye and sharing a smile with the silver haired teen. 

Terra watched as the rest of them fell asleep, one by one. Soon, he was the only one still awake. Aqua had drifted off and fallen against him and Ven. 

“Terra?” a sleepy mumble came from Ven, and a small hand came up to wrap around his own. “Are you ok?”

Terra smiled and tangled his fingers with Ven’s, “I’m fine...”

“Then go to sleep, ok?” Ven nuzzled into his lap and his grip on Terra’s hand slackened. “You’re grumpy when you don’t sleep.”

“Ok, Ven.”

When the blond’s grip slacked completely, Terra moved his hand back to Ven’s hair. Soon, he felt himself drifting to sleep. No more nightmares came to haunt him. 

When soft footfalls stumbled across the pile in the morning, their view was this:

A tall redhead was taking up as much space as he could on the floor, his mouth open in a loud snore. Clutched to his chest with one arm was a smaller blond boy, and the other arm was slung around a dark haired girl. The blond was laying more on the redhead than on the floor, one hand clutching at fabric, the other swung out at an awkward angle to loosely grip a brown spike of hair. The dark haired girl laid on her back, head pillowed by the redhead’s shoulder, snoring much more softly than her louder counterpart. 

The brunet hair that the blonde was gripping was attached to another boy, this one snoring nearly as loud as the redhead and his limbs all spread out. A silver-haired boy had curled close to him, sandwiched between the blond’s body and the brunet’s, his head resting on the brunet’s chest and his arm loosely encircling him. A red haired girl was using the brunet’s other arm as a pillow, one arm curled up by her chest, the other reaching out to gently touch the silver haired boy’s arm. A blonde female was curled up beside her, their backs aligning perfectly. 

Sitting up with his back against the wall was another brunet, this one much, much taller than the first, one hand buried in blonde hair, the other lightly touching the arm of a blue haired young woman. The blonde’s head was laying in the brunet’s lap, an arm curled beneath him and the other was folded across his face. The blue haired girl laid half on top of the blonde and half on the brunet, her hands clutching both of their shirts in firm grips. 

Sprawled half on the floor and half in the laps of both the blonde and the blue haired girl was a dark haired boy, almost matching the spiky haired brunette in all his features. Indeed, the spiky haired brunette was holding on the the ankle of the dark haired boy, while the boy loosely clutched the sleeve of the blue haired girl and the shirt of the blonde. 

However, the person who walked in on this group did not wince in sympathy for the stiff necks and sore muscles they would all sure to endure later. Nor did he coo at their adorableness of managing to look like a batch of exhausted puppies. 

No, it was only irritation that flashed through Isa’s mind as he stared at them all. Irritation and the unshakable belief that Lea was somehow at fault for this. 

After all, did they have to block the way to the kitchen?!

Afterward:

Isa was still in the midst of debating if his coffee was worth the obstacle course of bodies he would have to step through to get it when a voice that sounded just as irritated as he felt broke his strategic planning. 

“Either get the fuck down here, or fuck off.” 

Isa turned to find one dark golden eye glaring at him from underneath a fringe of black hair. 

“Lang’ge,” Aqua admonished lightly, even in sleep. 

Vanitas turned to stick his tongue out at her sleeping face, then turned back around to glare at Isa until Isa made his decision. 

The blue haired young man sighed deeply, before deciding that coffee was not worth it. Instead, he picked out a spot next to Lea and used one of the redhead’s bony legs as a pillow, quickly letting the soft breathing and loud snores lull him back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> A wild Isa appears! Vanitas uses vulgar language! It's super effective! ...bad pokemon reference is bad... 
> 
> So... let me know if there are any glaring mistakes. I tried to catch them, but I edit these myself and I get tired.


End file.
